Remains of 55 people recovered from Gaza rubble 2 years after strike

Gaza City civil defense officials announced on Saturday that they have recovered the remains of 55 individuals from the rubble of a residential building destroyed by an Israeli airstrike two years ago. The victims belonged to a family and a group of internally displaced persons who were residing in the house at the time, as reported by the officials overseeing the clearance operation.

However, independent verification of this information is still pending. The ongoing conflict in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, following a devastating attack by the Palestinian organization Hamas and its allied groups. The assault resulted in approximately 200 casualties in southern Israel and led to the capture of around 250 hostages who were subsequently moved to the Gaza Strip.

According to the health authority controlled by Hamas in the coastal region, a staggering 73,400 Palestinians have lost their lives since the onset of the war. This total encompasses both civilians and members of armed groups, although the figure does not differentiate between the two categories. The United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) has estimated that 82% of all buildings in Gaza have been either destroyed or damaged during the conflict.

Medical authorities in Gaza, along with United Nations agencies and various aid organizations, estimate that the remains of 10,000 to 14,000 people are still entombed beneath the rubble. However, civil defense authorities are grappling with a severe shortage of equipment such as bulldozers, excavators, and trucks, which hampers their efforts to access the missing individuals and recover their remains.

Currently, only a minuscule fraction of the more than 60 million tons of war debris has been cleared.